Bend It!

Iggy dancing at The Crom.

Several Floydian sources publish a scan
of a NME (New Musical Express) article from November 1966, featuring
Iggy, dancing on a party. Most of the time the date is cited as
Wednesday the 16th of November, but the scan of the magazine shows a
different date that of Saturday the 26th of November. As NME appeared
every Friday the article probably appeared in issue 1037
(of Friday the 25th of November). Of course there is always the chance
that the actual pictures were taken on Wednesday the 16th.

The party in question was held at The Cromwellian (3 Cromwell Rd,
London SW7). The Crom, as it was generally nicknamed, opened in 1965 in
Earls Court, was a three-floor cocktail bar and discotheque and one of
the posher (and more expensive) places to be. It was also one of the
places for a would-be star to be discovered (or at least they believed
it).

The basement described itself as ‘England’s Famous Discotheque
(and restaurant)’ where pirate station DJs and well-known bands as Georgie
Fame and Zoot
Money performed. The ground floor had ‘Harry’s
International Bar (and restaurant)’, promising the ‘greatest
atmosphere in town’. Upstairs was a gambling area, an ‘Elegant
Casino’, where you could try your luck at dice – roulette – black
jack – pontoon and poker. Successful musicians, photographers, fashion
designers, artists, television personalities (and the odd East End
gangster) would hang out at The Crom, where the new m’as-tu-vu
elite could enjoy a glass of champagne without being disturbed by
obsessive and pushy fans. Ray Davies remembers it as the ideal place to
‘observe the almost endless supply of dolly girls parading in
mini-skirts’. Probably the fact that there was ‘free
entrance for girls’ helped as well.

Simon Hayes, publicist for The Crom is remembered by pirate radio
DJ (and ex-roommate) Phil
Martin: “Simon ran a pop PR agency called Ace Public
Relations and he and his business (it seemed to me then) were at the
absolute epicentre of the Swinging Sixties scene in London at the time.”
(Taken from Offshore
Radio)

Bend It moves.

No wonder that The Crom was chosen by Patrick Kerr, one of the
choreographers of the Ready
Steady Go! TV show to present the new dance of the week: the Bend.
(Probably he already knew that the RSG!
show would end a couple of weeks later.) The Bend was named after the
risqué Dave
Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich hitsingle Bend It! that had been
released in September. According to NME a new version with a different
set of words had to be recorded for the US market.Update July
2010: the story behind the Bend craze can be found in the following
article: Rod
Harrod remembers The Crom.Update October 2012: the Bend
link at Sixties City seems to be broken, so here is an alternative: the Bend.

Other prominent guests at the party were (according to NME):Adrienne
(with an E) Posta (or Poster). An actress
(and singer) who would have a prominent role in the forthcoming movie Here
We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1967). In the next decade her
sheepdog would become world-famous, posing for a Dulux paint
advertisement campaign. This also led to the single ‘Dog Song’, written
by her husband rockstar Graham Bonnett (The Marbles, Rainbow, Alkatrazz).Frank
Allen who joined The
Searchers in 1964 and is still with them today.Twinkle (Lynn
Annette Ripley), the first British female singer / songwriter to
score in the rock era. Her debut single Terry (1964) had catapulted her
into the top3 and was followed by Golden Lights, Tommy, Poor Old Johnny,
but with degrading success. (Update: as Simon Hayes and Twinkle
were an item it is logical that she was present at the club. See
also: Rod Harrod
remembers The Crom.)Chris Farlowe, one of Britain’s
earliest exponents of R & B, had been struggling until his 1966 version
of Think (Jagger & Richards) made it into the top 20. His
following single Out Of Time (also a Rolling Stones tune) became
number 1 and Farlowe
was voted Best New Singer for 1966, although he had been performing
since 1957.

Well so far for the small story, but what really matters is:

What was Iggy doing at The Cromwellian when Patrick Kerr demonstrated
the Bend?Who invited her to the spectacle (knowing that the press
was also invited)?Was she somehow connected to the RSG show (as a
dancer, a model or a figurant)?Was she somehow connected to The
Cromwellian?Was she somehow connected to Simon Hayes and/or his PR
company?What about singer/actress Adrienne Posta, one hit wonder Twinkle
and superstar Chris Farlowe?Was her aim to be discovered by a RSG!
talent scout (perhaps not knowing that these were the last weeks of the
show)?

The Holy Church Of Iggy the Inuit will continue to investigate this.

Update April the 1st, 2010. A new gallery has been
uploaded containing the complete Come
with NME for a pic-visit to THE CROMWELLIAN article and pictures
from New Musical Express 1037, 25 November 1966. Photographs by Napier
Russell & Barry Peake. Words by Norrie Drummond. (Just another
world exclusive from the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit.)